SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Republican Bob Antonacci has declared victory in the hotly contested state Senate 50th district race. He held a sizable lead Tuesday night and his opponent would need to win a huge swath of absentee ballots to overcome that lead.

"A win's a win," Antonacci said.

After the polls closed Tuesday, Antonacci led Democrat John Mannion by 2,829 votes.

As of Tuesday, 8,805 absentee ballots had been mailed out to voters enrolled in the 50th district and 7,565 of those ballots had been returned.

Antonacci received 58,694 votes compared to Mannion's 55,865 votes.

Mannion would need to win about three-quarters of the absentee ballots to overcome Antonacci's lead.

Antonacci thanked his opponent, Mannion, during a speech at the Onondaga County GOP election party Tuesday. He called Mannion a "gentleman."

The race was hotly contested because it was the first time the seat has been open in 26 years.

It is being vacated by Sen. John DeFrancisco, R-DeWitt, who is retiring. The seat has been in Republican hands 53 years. Before DeFrancisco, Tarky Lombardi Jr. occupied it for 27 years.

The seat was highly coveted by Democrats. They wanted to wrest control of the state Senate away from Republicans, who have a one-seat majority.

Antonacci, 53, of the town of Onondaga, has served as Onondaga County Comptroller for 11 years.

Mannion, 50, of Geddes, is a high school biology teacher and president of the West Genesee school district's teachers union. He had never run for office before.

Lots of money poured into the race; campaign spending may top a record $3 million. Much of the money has come from independent political action committees that have spent heavily to support candidates without coordinating with their campaigns.

Mannion's campaign was a top priority for the New York United Teachers union, whose political action committee spent more than $1 million supporting him.

Antonacci also attracted financial support from outside groups, including Balance New York, a Republican-funded group; the NY State Senate Republican Campaign Committee; and the Upstate Jobs Committee.

The campaign featured a barrage of TV commercials and mailers, many of them negative attack ads.

The state Republican Senate Committee used a fake photo of Mannion and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in a mailer accusing Mannion of being too liberal and supporting the "far left, radical NYC agenda."

The photo in the mailer was actually a picture of Mannion and his campaign manager, Ian Phillips. In the doctored photo, Phillips' head was removed and replaced with de Blasio's.

Meanwhile, the state Senate Democratic Campaign Committee sent out a mailer to let voters know what Antonacci thinks of a state bill that would strengthen New York's abortion law. The only problem was the mailer attributed a statement about the bill to Antonacci that was made by Rick Guy, a former state Senate candidate who was removed from the ballot because of invalid petitions.

The 50th district includes a small part of Syracuse's North Side, most of Onondaga County and parts of Cayuga County. As of April 1, the district had 59,991 enrolled Democrats and 59,825 Republicans.